cloud computing | corporatespeak

“cloud computing” December 1, 2009

Posted by That Guy in Definition, Pictures, Seen Elsewhere, Technology Trouble.
Tags: cloud computing, control, dilbert, google, google docs, microsoft office, security, sidekick, t-mobile, vpn, yahoo briefcase
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cloud computing
KLOWD kom-PYU-ting

If you want to get technical, cloud computing is a very cool way to keep all your stuff in internet-land, where you can access it from anywhere because you don’t own the media or servers upon which it’s stored. But if you want to get corporate, all you need to know is that corporations are likely to be very, very leery about implementing it despite how into it their tech folks are.

The problem with cloud computing, from a corporate perspective, is all about control. Most people have Google accounts, and already live somewhat in the cloud — if you have webmail, you’re doing cloud computing. Google is by far the king of the cloud, though Microsoft’s Office 10 is going to attempt to make some inroads into that market share. But whether it’s via Google, Microsoft, or even Yahoo (anyone remember Yahoo Briefcase?), the company doesn’t own the data. The data is held by the third party, who has their own set of terms and conditions as to the warranty of the data (T-Mobile Sidekick Fail, for example), the accessibility of the data (you can’t call Google and complain that Docs is down), and their right to read the data or be subpoenaed and hand the data over. And what happens if the third party suffers a hacking attack that ends with the data being taken by hostile parties? What’s the company’s recourse?

That’s why so many companies use VPNs instead of cloud computing — they let employees log into their work PCs using secure connections that they control. It’s way slower than the cloud, but it lets the corporations exercise their own security measures. And, I have to admit, as much as I love cloud computing (I do most of my first drafts on Docs), there’s a big difference between running a blog and running a multi-million-dollar corporation.

Of course, all companies have to do their due diligence and pretend to be interested in cloud computing, as illustrated by the above Dilbert strip. The tech guys always get excited about it, hoping they can link their tricked-out Google accounts to their work life. Just remember — if the company does go with the cloud, you’re going to have to make all your Google stuff available to them upon request. You know it’ll show up in the IT policy. I’d certainly put it there.

cleaning up before you turn out the lights July 1, 2009

Posted by That Guy in Getting Fired, Technology Trouble.
Tags: backup, cloud computing, computer, cs3, hard drive, incremental backup, layoffs, microsoft office, openoffice, terabyte, visio, vista
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Today marks the beginning of Q3, and many companies are soon to discover that they haven’t made budget and will need to start doing layoffs.

Something a lot of people don’t realize is that they’ve put a whole lot of things on their work computers that they want to take with them — and not even personal stuff at that; what about designs? Code examples? Documentation? In other words: your hard work.

photo by Waldyrious

Resignr has a 10-item list about what to do when you quit, when it comes to your work computer, and interestingly, it’s not until item 9 that they talk about backing up your stuff. I, on the other hand, am of the mind that you should back up your data every month or so — not just because hard drives fail, but because it’s entirely possible that, when you’re laid off, you’ll be escorted out and you won’t actually have the time to go get your stuff.

What to back up: Anything you’ve designed, written, developed, coded, produced, edited, prototyped, or collaborated upon. Usually you can find all of this in My Documents, though if you’re very technical, you may have folders scattered all over the place. Make a list, or consolidate. Also, if you have a shared directory or drive, back that up too — recently at CorporateSpeak, the drive containing every piece of shared artwork for the past five years completely crashed and the data is likely unrecoverable, though our IT guy is doing his best to get it back*.

When to back up: Once every month; more frequently if your job is in danger. Set an appointment in your calendar so you don’t forget. It’ll likely take you about 20 minutes to set up the backup, even if you drag every folder manually, and another two or three hours for it to finish. I used to back up my personal computer that way, though now that I have Vista I rather like the native backup program.

What to use: External USB storage is amazingly cheap these days. I recently bought a 1TB external hard drive for $130, and if you’re a savvy shopper, you can get even better deals. I recommend against using an internal drive, because it’s a lot more difficult to pull it out of your computer when no one’s looking. Also, backing up online or in the cloud takes time and probably costs money (I’ve never done it). Figure out how much data you’ll have and buy an external drive that will hold it all; one terabyte is a great investment, and there’ll probably be room left over for your porn, too.

How to back up: The most basic way to back up your work is to drag the folders onto the external drive, one at a time, into a dated folder. However, there are plenty of free programs online that you can use to run a backup, and you may even have one as part of your OS. Setting up incremental backups will save you a ton of time after you finish the first one (which will take forever, or so it’ll seem, because every single file will be copied over).

I don’t have these programs: Adobe CS/3 is expensive. Microsoft Office is expensive. Visio is expensive. But none of that matters. You don’t need the programs to have the files; if you go to an interview and they want your design comps, provide PSD files. Of course, most designers have obtained tools to use at home. If you produce a lot of video, you can make DVDs; if you’re a writer, OpenOffice works just as well as Microsoft and is completely free. (I’ve had some trouble getting it to work with Windows Vista 64-bit, but that may be unique to me.) But, seriously, if you don’t have programs at home that at least somewhat mirrors the kind of work you do at the office, then now’s the time to start saving up.

What about my personal stuff: If you have the time, pull everything personal off your work computer. You’ve probably got a ton of pictures, passwords, and purchasing information stored on there. Get it all off; the Resignr article referenced above has lots of useful tips to do that. If it’s too late, then honestly, you might want to format that drive. If your company hasn’t backed up all of your software and kept a list of licenses, then it’s their own fault.

Last week, while I was cleaning off my external hard drive in advance of doing a backup on my personal computer, I found a folder of all my work stuff, backed up off my computer just before it was replaced in early 2008. I haven’t done a backup since then, and today, I’ll be remedying that situation. After all, CorporateSpeak did announce that there’ll be another round of layoffs this quarter, and even though my bosses have said we won’t be affected, I’m not taking any chances. There’s a lot of art, animation, code, and writing on that PC and I don’t want to lose any of it.